Introduction to the Cataloguing of Medieval Manuscripts
One Day Course: Tuesday 4 June 2024
How – indeed, why – do we describe medieval manuscripts? How have these conventions evolved? And what functions might a catalogue entry fulfil?
This course will help you to establish good practice in identifying, gathering, interpreting and sorting physical and other evidence contained in manuscripts, enabling you to undertake medieval manuscripts research in a systematic and methodical manner. It will take you through the process of compiling a description step-by-step, using manuscripts from Senate House Library. You will study the various ways in which information about manuscripts has been presented, and learn how to read and comprehend published catalogues and the work of other manuscripts researchers. It will encourage you to develop a critical practice in thinking about the way in which information about medieval manuscripts is categorised and arranged, how cataloguing as a discipline has evolved, and what a description might tell you not only about a manuscript but about the methodology of its cataloguer.
This course links up with the Introduction to the codicology of medieval manuscripts, Codicology and cataloguing of medieval manuscripts: a hands-on workshop, and TEI and the description of medieval manuscripts. Taken as a whole, the course addresses fundamental gaps in the teaching available at most universities, offers insights that cannot adequately be gained from printed or digital sources or facsimiles.
Additional Information
Course Requirements
- Knowledge of codicology and the processes of book production will be essential - hence the link-up with the Introduction to the Codicology of Medieval Manuscripts course.
- Some familiarity with and ability to read medieval handwriting would be helpful (but is not essential) and students are encouraged to familiarise themselves with introductory guides to palaeography in advance of the course.
Essential Reading
The Cambridge Companion to Medieval British Manuscripts, ed. by Orietta da Rold and Elaine Treharne (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020):
- Richard Beadle and Ralph Hanna, ‘Describing and cataloguing medieval English manuscripts: a checklist’, pp. 13-38.
- Donald Scragg, ‘Reading a manuscript description’, pp. 39-48.
Orietta da Rold, ‘Tradition and innovation in cataloguing medieval manuscripts’, Anglia: Journal of English Philology, 139 (2021), 32-58.
Ralph Hanna, ‘Manuscript catalogues and book history’, The Library, 7th ser., vol. 18 (2017), 45-61.
N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, 5 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969-2002), vol. 1: London (1969), pp. vii-xiii.
Location
This course will take place in Senate House.
Fees
Course fees for LIPS 2024 are below: